1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic musical instrument having an automatic accompaniment function and, more specifically, to an electronic musical instrument, which can realize various performances having high musicality and free from unnaturalness by an easy operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional electronic musical instrument with an automatic accompaniment function pre-stores performance data (accompaniment pattern data) of a plurality of accompaniment patterns (e.g., rock & roll, pops, and the like), and selectively uses the accompaniment patterns for music to be played (e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-187398).
Another electronic musical instrument comprises a memory called a registration memory, and switches called registration switches, and can simultaneously set a plurality of setting data such as a tone color, tone volume, effect, and the like of a musical tone (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-187397). Generally, an electronic musical instrument is provided with a large number of panel switches for individually selecting ON/OFF states or setting stepwise a tone color, tone volume, effect, and the like of a musical tone, and a user realizes a desired performance environment by setting these data. The registration memory stores a plurality of registrations. One registration is a set of parameters, and each set includes a plurality of setting data such as the tone color, tone volume, effect, and the like of a musical tone. Each registration can be read out by turning on, e.g., one registration switch.
According to this electronic musical instrument, the setting states of a large number of switches can be simultaneously switched by operating one registration switch in place of operations of a plurality of panel switches, thereby setting a performance environment. Therefore, operability upon switching of the performance environment during a performance can be improved. Since the registration data includes contents associated with an arrangement such as a combination of optimal instruments, a balance among performance parts, and the like for music to be played, it is preferable to set the registration data by a person who has expert knowledge about music. For this reason, the registration data is generally stored as factory preset data.
When the above-mentioned registration technique is simply combined with the electronic musical instrument with the automatic accompaniment function, a performance environment of the electronic musical instrument with the automatic accompaniment function can be easily switched upon operation of the registration switch. However, since an automatic accompaniment pattern has no relation to a registration, improper registration may be selected for an automatic accompaniment pattern. In this case, if the selected pattern and registration are not harmonized with each other, an actually produced tone becomes musically unnatural.